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Editor’s Note — At 1:27pm on Monday August 18th the NBA released an official statement, transcribed below: “ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation —for which the NBA declined to cooperate — contains numerous and significant inaccuracies. The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded” Reportedly, Steve Ballmer, the Los Angeles Clippers, and Kawhi Leonard may be in the clear. Early Monday afternoon, ESPN released a report published by Don Van Natta Jr., Baxter Holmes, and Ramona Shelburne with the following statement: “The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.” Sources: NBA has no evidence Ballmer funneled money to Leonard via sponsors The report goes on to say that “Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team’s introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league’s rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention…” Sources: NBA has no evidence Ballmer funneled money to Leonard via sponsors Throughout the 11-month investigation, the scope expanded beyond the alleged deal Leonard made with Aspiration, and now involves a minimum of three other companies that also had deals with the Clippers. The Clippers defense at this time is that the team “introduced players, including Kawhi Leonard, to companies with which we had business relationships.” A common occurence in the NBA. The Clippers maintain that they had no involvement negotiating or dictating the terms of Leonard’s endoresement deals. Currently, negotiations are ongoing to reach a resolution to the investigation. Ballmer “has insisted repeatedely in conversations with confidants that he will not accept a league result that asserts he or the team intended to circumvent the salary cap and would instead bring the matter to aribitration.” via ESPN The report also states that “it’s unclear how long a potential resolution to the investigation might take, particularly if the matter ends up in arbitration”. For more information, I highly recommend reading the full report. The longer this goes on, the more it seems that the Toronto Raptors are the only ones suffering the consequences. The team has been stuck in limbo since agreeing to terms to bring Leonard back to Toronto, and it’s still unclear when that may end while training camp rapidly approaches. Let’s hope the end is near…